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LED Headlights


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Wondering if anyone has replaced their stock Halogen headlights and foglights with LED's? If so, how did it go? Unfortunately it seems they don't make an H7 LED for the high beams - at least not yet. 

 

On my previous car, a 2011 GMC Terrain, I used these and they worked great! A nice bright white that rivaled HID's. For the Fusion I was thinking about these which are rated even brighter. 

 

Also wondering if the way the manual says to replace the headlights (removing a bunch of screws and clips from the bumper and pulling it forward) is really the best way or if headlight replacement can be done without doing all that.

 

So far loving my Fusion!

Edited by ctfusion
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I haven't done it, but people have talked about it, look at this thread

http://www.fordfusionenergiforum.com/topic/1544-led-lights/

 

most of the way Meyer showed some nice looking lights, but that's the entire assembly as well, and they are ~$1k.

 

The ones you linked look really good, I would be up to spending $90 for lights

 

If you do it please post up the results and opinion!

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Have you installed either of those LED lights?  I was looking at the 20w ones, but because it has a fan and the headlights on the Fusion are behind a rubber dust cover, even if they do fit, the fan isn't going to do anything in an enclosed space.

 

Same with the 40w ones.  It's nice those are fanless, but again, if the heat radiator is in an enclosed space, the bulbs are going to have a reduced lifespan.

 

Was driving last night and got aggrevated over the headlights in my car again.  Compared to the standard reflector headlights in my Expo, these things do not make me happy, especially when I need to see to the side of my car when turning a corner.  I've been shopping HID but the bulb life sucks and I don't want to deal with a ballast.  LED tech has come leaps and bounds, so that's the direction I want to go.  And besides... filament Sylvania Silverstar bulbs are absurdly expensive.  I'd pay a touch more of a premium to get better light and longevity.

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Have you installed either of those LED lights?  I was looking at the 20w ones, but because it has a fan and the headlights on the Fusion are behind a rubber dust cover, even if they do fit, the fan isn't going to do anything in an enclosed space.

 

Same with the 40w ones.  It's nice those are fanless, but again, if the heat radiator is in an enclosed space, the bulbs are going to have a reduced lifespan.

 

Was driving last night and got aggrevated over the headlights in my car again.  Compared to the standard reflector headlights in my Expo, these things do not make me happy, especially when I need to see to the side of my car when turning a corner.  I've been shopping HID but the bulb life sucks and I don't want to deal with a ballast.  LED tech has come leaps and bounds, so that's the direction I want to go.  And besides... filament Sylvania Silverstar bulbs are absurdly expensive.  I'd pay a touch more of a premium to get better light and longevity.

 

Yeah, I'm not real happy with the lights on the Fusion either. I have not installed these yet but I will within a couple weeks. I'll update here about how it goes. I wonder too about the heat dissipation behind the dust cap but the installation image shows them being installed in that scenario. 

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  • 4 weeks later...

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2014-New-Design-Cree-LED-48W-Auto-Headlight-Headlamp-Kit-with-Ballast-for-Car-Fog-Light/1827890043.html

 

But from what I've seen it really won't matter unless you're willing to destroy or take apart your headlight assembly. There isn't enough room to maneuver the bulbs into place.

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Those don't look like a fanless design though.  What I had in mind were these:

 

http://www.amazon.com/JDM-ASTAR-Generation-Lumens-Headlight/dp/B00S75A5IW/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1430788007&sr=8-3-fkmr0&keywords=astar+h11+led+5400

 

I'm going to have to take a closer look at the headlight housing and see if these will fit.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 5 months later...

Those don't look like a fanless design though.  What I had in mind were these:

 

http://www.amazon.com/JDM-ASTAR-Generation-Lumens-Headlight/dp/B00S75A5IW/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1430788007&sr=8-3-fkmr0&keywords=astar+h11+led+5400

 

I'm going to have to take a closer look at the headlight housing and see if these will fit.

 

Did you end up doing these ones? Curious to know how you like them.

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  • 2 weeks later...

HI everyone, I wanted to chime in here.

 

I've tried two LED options in my '13FFE. I first tried the fanless Phillips H11 product in my halogen headlamp. I wrote this review on Amazon:

 

"These LEDs have identical lumen output to a 55W halogen, but the photometric distribution is still wrong compared to a halogen filament. This translates to how well the lamp housing can collect and aim the light down the road. With identical lumen specs but poorer photometric distribution this lamp fails to project the same amount of usable light down the road. The range these bulbs cover is noticeably shorter than halogen counterparts, especially in side by side testing. Look for LEDs that produce 360 degrees of light output at precisely the same distance from the bulb base as a halogen, with better lumen output instead."

 

I had intended for these to go in my fog lights, but had tested them in the headlights. In the fog lights they performed a bit better, and will certainly be cooled much better. They fit in both headlamp and fog lamp just fine. They do not project enough light for headlamp usage, although the beam pattern was acceptable.

 

I then went the brute force way, and used the Starnil 3600 lumen 40W triple COB fan cooled bulb. With a bit of fines, they did fit in the low beam H11 sockets but I had to remove the fan guard. The LEDs operate at 160F open air and the LED driver operates 150F open air 80F ambient. Anyways, these bulbs have brutal lumen output but the "COB triad" has much worse photometrics then halogen capsules and the phillips LEDs. I end up with a very bright region close to the car but it fades quickly. There is almost zero overlap between where my high beams start and the low beams end. They are bright enough as headlamps but HID would have the closest photometric match to halogen. PS the fans are noisy, especially when you have an electric car.

 

The H7 Starnill product does not fit the high beam. The headlamp housing is too complicated and contorted to get this in place.

 

I would like to improve this system and make my H7's work as high beams... I want to get PC CPU water blocks epoxied to the LED bulbs to replace the fan heatsink, epoxy the LED driver to the other side of the water block and then run hoses to a small radiator somewhere behind a fog light with a 12V pump. Don't want to cut into my EV low temperature cooling system, although it would be ideal.

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I went hunting for your review... found it on this product:  http://www.amazon.com/Philips-12834UNIX2-X-tremeVision-Lamp-Fits/dp/B00U2NHLTI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1455725193&sr=8-1&keywords=phillips+h11+led

 

I then dug around to find out exactly what the lumen output was of these LEDS.  http://download.p4c.philips.com/files/1/12834unix2/12834unix2_pss_.pdf

 

700lm.

 

That's half of halogen output (most are 1200 to 1500lm).

 

The price of those are far too expensive for far too little return.  They're barely functional... they seem more decorative than anything.

 

I couldn't find Starnil products on Amazon.

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I forgot to come toss my 2cp onto this conversation. For Christmas I got

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017BDXVW2?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00

 

and installed them. The base of them is so large i couldn't completely get the rubber seal back on, but I ended up duct taping everything back in to seal it back up, no on sees it, and only a problem if i drive up that deep into a river, then I have different problems.

 

Overall I think for the $50 they cost they were a nice upgrade, I like that they draw less power and are much whiter. Performance wise i would say they are 10-15% better, but I didnt have a problem with the stock ones.

 

The biggest problem is actually swapping them, this isn't pop the back off and change the bulb.

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